Children of God

3.5 if I could. Definitely not as good as the first. It dragged a lot through the middle. Still a lot of interesting stuff and it was fun both to revisit the characters and to see what happened after the events of the first book. But the story arc didn't have the same pull as the first, and it had the disadvantage of lacking the thrill of discovery from the first book. Can't rediscover Rakhat. It's worth reading, especially if you enjoyed the first, but it's definitely not on the level of the first book, in terms of characters, plot, storytelling, and introspection.